You guys need to put rain gutters on both end sides of your garage elbow it into a collection in The Collector water from your roof you got your morning dues that slowly drips down eventually it end up with a full container
When I watched your concrete pour I saw that they cut key ways in the slab for control joints. They did that when my house was built in Arizona. The one thing I wish I had done and would recommend you do is fill those key ways with a self leveling joint filler (still allows expansion) that they sell in the big box stores. You'll find sweeping up the shop floor way easier.
> Yeah the stuff comes in a calk gun tube and is very easy to use. It is used for sealing expansion joints in concrete paving and is very durable. Sitka.
Cover all your exposed hot water lines with that black pool noodle insulation, it makes a big difference in the winter. There is a pretty big heat loss in pipe runs through unheated spaces. That poly tube will still have a pretty big heat loss though nowhere nearly as large as copper or steel.
Also in the winter not a bad idea to run water periodically or let it drip some to keep lines from freezing. You probably already have dealt this in the winter. I have been living in a travel trailer and everything freezes in the winter.
With that large roof, you should also put in guttering on both sides of the roof and route the rainwater to a few IBC totes, for great rainwater collection, and then pipe that water to a pump and filtering configuration, and then to your water heater! We do rainwater collection, here in various parts of Hawaii! Mahalo!
Great work, though I am not a big fan of the pex crimps you used, I have seen them fail several times hot and cold expansion on the pex those crimps tend to cut into the pex, just something I have seen before and I have been in the hvac/plumbing biz for 30 years.. Also if you increase your hot water temp, that uses less hot water to mix with cold for a desired shower temp, using less hot water in the end, but also increases power consumption a little bit, when you install your rain catch system plumb the toilet to use that water instead of potable.. just my 2 cent opinion... 1 more thing about the bees, use fire smoke to drive them away if you dont want to kill them, otherwise youtube has several ways to kill them cheap and NO chemicals just water and dish soap, plenty of vids on that...
A friend has the heat pump water heater. It's sitting in the garage next to an interior wall. He ducted the cold air into the living space during the summer. Really helps. Diverts it in the winter.
There are few creature comforts, that I can think of, that compare with a hot shower in clean water under pressure. Knowing that the sun is providing the heat is even better. Well done, as always.
Great point, or put your condensate to a condensate pump. Then you will not have a slow trickle that tends to freeze. The quick rush of larger volume of water will warm the plastic enough to allow it to drain before freezing in your climate zone.
Agreed, either drain the condensate into where the waste water form the house goes, or collect it in a bucket and recycle it. In winter that line through the wall will freeze, ask me how I know.
@@rsecord Does it even need to be a pump? A simple siphon, or a Pythagorean Cup, would let you to dump the condensate in batches, all without any moving parts
Good job on the info in the video. Finally found one that gave some details of off grid setup and how much power usage it takes. I'm looking at buying one of those water heaters for my radiant floor heat and hopefully set it up to a solar array (do not have the array yet). One cool smart device I have for our electrical system is a Sense power monitor. It shows you what is drawing power.
Riley, Courtney, I watch two other highly rated off grid ‘homestead’ channels. One from Texas and one from West Virginia. Each of you have displayed extraordinary intelligence and strength in figuring out all aspects of creating a beautiful home. I am in awe! Thanks for great content! I always look forward to your channel!
@@jackiejones8829 it’s called Life Uncontained, because they built an absolute dream home out of two shipping containers. Start to finish. It’s Mackenzie and Spencer and their lil girl and lil boy that they had while filming 4 years of working on their home.
I've had that water heater installed for almost 2 years now. I installed a thermal mixing valve and during the warm months set the water temperature to 140 to kill listeria and ducted it into the kitchen for the 'free AC'. In the winter it just cools the basement and i turn the temp down to 120. Whatever you do, don't duct it outside, you will have to heat that space, it only works on ambient air down to about 40 degrees and exhausting it outside would create a negative draw and pull the even colder outside air in. In total it burns about 1.3kW/day just sitting at 120 even if you're not home and it's in heat pump mode. With a mixing valve set at 120 and the tank at 140, with incoming water at 68deg, I was able to get about 97gallons out of it before the water went cold.
You two are nailing the whole off grid while running a RUclips channel. I love the channel and watching your fearless approach to any challenge. You make it look so easy, and anyone that has done even a couple of your projects knows how much work it is. Great job, and keep amazing us.
AS, If you didn't know, Ryobi makes a dedicated battery-powered PEX clamp jaw. Push a button and the jaws clamp down on the stainless steel clamps. I loved using it.
I love both of you. You have motivate me to become a Pilot and a Flight instructor at my age of 64. I believe that if you can do this I can do my Dream. Thanks
water, potable water, can be super tricky - esp if you live where it hits -30C a lot. I hauled potable water home from the janitor closet at work for 7 years and absolutely hated it! I was spoiled by city water for 50 years. That heat pump water heater is a cool trick.
I am now researching electric water heaters because we signed up for solar on our house. Now we are researching battery back up solutions too. I love learning new things through y’all and you have influenced a lot of decisions we have made on our home lately. Thank you for opening our eyes to new things!
Hey Brian, check into a standard water heater, change the elements to 12 volt get a harbor freight 100watt solar set and 2 golf cart 6volt batteries, if you super insulate the tank (10"to12")of the pink stuff, you will have more hot water than you can use
it's not an "electric water heater" that he showed, it's a heat pump, which is electrically powered. big differences. i have a model in the same series as theirs, and unfortunately, mine's been very buggy
So now you have a HW htr that gives off cold air; and a refrigerator that gives off hot air. Now neither one gives off enough energy to replace the other but would take part of the load. Just a thought. You would probably need a water-cooled heat exchanger on both appliances.
Between Courtney’s sound effects when Riley was fitting the end to the poly water line and the shower scene I think you should have audience rated this video. My wife was snoozing beside me and thought I was up to no good. Great content as always, thanks for the entertainment. You guys are awesome.
You guys have such a great system set up. I wish we had this on Grandpas farm. We lived up Taylor creek west of Merlin Oregon on 80 acres. We had utilities(power) but this would have made it cheaper and easier to live. man the ideas I have now after watching your channel to bad we don't have the place anymore. I would love to send you a photo of my grandpa feeding by hand a doe from the local herd we named grandma and it shows the farm and the surrounding area. Keep up the great stuff love you guys and how is big yellow after the road building project.
I find it fascinating that folks that do what we do manage the project very different. First weekend after settling on the property I had a road cut and a septic tank installed with 3 inlets for RV dumps. Then the solar panels went up for RV, ATV and devices. Water we also hauled until October when our harvesting came on line after the shop was complete. Ours has been a super fun project, I see yours has also been a blast! Enjoy!
I buy a lot of tools, I upgrade all the time. I look at it as I am buying time, as I have more time to do what I enjoy if my chores take less time. I enjoy your content. thanks.
You guys are doing it right… so many other channels under engineer their solution and end up constantly chasing their energy needs wasting time over and over in a distraction of labor.
We installed one of these when our 20-year-old water heater died. Cut our electric bill quite a bit. We use about 2 kwh per day for the water heater. The problems most people who install them have is cold air output, space requirements (don't put it in a closet), and noise.
Hey you two!! Just wanted to quickly say thank you for sharing this...totally on the same page about relying on solar rather than propane. Every "plumbing expert" we've talked to has tried to steer us away from the Rheem and go either instant propane hot water or solar hot water. This really seems like the best all around option!
I installed a Rheem heat pump hot water heater (same model) it cut my water heating cost by 80% from a conventional electric. My only complaint with it is the noise it makes (49 dba while it’s running). It’s programmable so you can change the schedule if it bugs you 😊😊. It has not had any issues during the year and half it’s been in operation
Riley: You are probably aware of this but Washington's truck scales are on, even when closed. I used to weigh our MH all the time just to keep the load balanced. (I collected rocks so it was constantly changing.) You guys are doing wonderfully well. Keep it up.
Just remember that you should always have a metal stand-off pipe, copper, black iron etc. on the tanks inlet and outlets. I bet is even says it in the paperwork. It may not be code where you guys are but it is everywhere that I know of. Glad to see the concrete floors that’s awesome, and love the dozer looks fun.
Just started watching your videos. In Dec 2022, I also purchased a Ruud 60 Gallon heat pump water heater and had it installed after my propane water heater of 19 years decided to have problems. In NYS, for people that are connected to the grid, my electric company NYSEG gave me a $700 rebate for using the heat pump water heater. I believe, the Rudd model is the best on the market. My water heater uses about 60 kwh per month. I also just got a 5k solar array on my roof so I can appreciate your system. If you use the water heater in heat pump mode, you'll be saving a ton of power. These heat pump water heaters have the heat pump mechanism on the top of the unit and the regular electrical heating element on the bottom. One thing to note is that the heat pump element as mentioned in the video, takes the warm air from the surrounding area on one side, then extracts the heat from the air and blows cold air on the other side. Another side effect is condensation, otherwise known as a dehumidifier. It would be great if the unit could accept the dehumidified water back into the tank.
That's the exact same heat pump hot water I put in two years ago. It's been great. I like I can see on the app how much electricity it's used. I average
Hey guys. So glad you two are ok. When you didn’t post yesterday I thought, what if something happened to one of you. Working off grid with heavy equipment anything is possible even with people who are extra careful. So I’m grateful to see you both are good and everyone has still got all their digits. 😉
In Aus Rain collection is main source of water in Rural areas , I would have thought you would have put gutters and downpipes on the shed and the water off the roof would have kept you in fresh water all the time. FYI the clear ISO tanks allow water to grow Algea as the light shines in and promotes photosynthesis. you can add some Milton water treatment tablets to help prevent that from happening. 12 volt RV pumps with pressure switches are ideal for your application also.
I know you are not a "how to" channel, but I am in awe of the way you two solve problems together and always find the best, most practical solutions to all the problems you encounter! You are an inspiration!
I have the same heat pump at my house and it works great. The only down side I have had with it is the time it takes in ECO mode to generate hot water if someone has used all the hot water for a shower. We have adjusted the times we shower and it really has not been a problem. My local power company had a $1,000 rebate for purchasing it so it was very cost effective to buy and very efficient to operate. Anyone looking to do a change like this contact your power company and look for rebates before purchasing and installing. I went from using fuel oil for my oil burner to this unit and no longer use fuel oil at all as I have switched all my heat and air conditioning over to heat pumps which work great and I live in New York where it gets cold.
Spending time in a well thought out plan ahead with the oppurtunities you have, makes a big difference in all your descions. In the first run it looks very expensive, but in the long run it´s rewarding and sometimes giving you more back then you payed for. You two are a very smart couple.
My water heater is at least 13 years old and it's time to replace. I didn't even know about these, and living in Florida, after doing research on these now (thank you!), I'm SOOO getting one of these to help cool my house AND be a lot more energy efficient. Thank you!
cool new water heater. I noticed now that the concrete is in, the dog door in the back is a little low for your size dogs. should think about raising so the top is height of their backs. they will thank you when they get older. love your videos.
Wow - another innovative solution. We had never heard of a heat-pump water heater, but are familiar with the technology. (We installed a mini-split HVAC system in our house last year to handle heating and cooling - works great.) We always look forward to your next video. Keep up the good work!
Nice content! FYI, the pros call them “water heaters” and the rookies call them “hot water heaters!” I’m an extrovert and can not imagine only having my wife to talk with most days! Neat use of technology!
Congratulations you two on getting the hot water heater installed. It was clever playing 'telephone' with the pipe to figure out which pipe was which. I never would have thought of that. Glad things are improving for you two. Thanks again for the video update.
Me and my old father made a permanent outdoor shower building that sets on its own with an opened door with a shower curtain With water catchment filtering and a propane water heater setup like you have .Also doing filtered water catchment for plants and fish because there’s to much chlorine in the water some times. Very cool video May God Bless You Both And Everyone You Know In The Name of Jesus Christ.Amen. A big Dew / Fog catchment would give you day to day drinking water no filter needed.
We got a similar hot water heater last year. We love it and it is great! We got a lemon in the beginning, the refrigerant leaked out but the mfgr replaced it for free under warranty. AOSmith is great, but Reehm is a great product too. Like you we got the one on the shelf. ... Congrats on all you do.
nice to see you guys getting things moved along. One thing, every time you put a 90 in a pex (or any other) line, you cut the water pressure. Its better to just keep a gently curved loop of pex in most circumstances.
@@Z71hosestretcher you would be surprised how many professionals do it to. All of my plumber uncles are dead or retired but even back in the all copper days, they used get for example a new customer who complained about water pressure and they found that the previous plumber who did the house did things like adding 90s to make it "look good" and so on.
I have been using that water heater for 7 years. I received 100% rebate from power company. The control panel has went out three times, and in the winter a trouble light goes on indicating condensate line not working, but it is working. Also one heat element went out. I called the company on all issues and they sent out FREE new parts. I installed the parts. Overall i love the water heater because of the built in heat pump and the good support for problems.
Awesomeness you two. That water heater is amazing. Those numbers will work well with the solar/battery system. Keep up the adventure. It is a joy to watch you! 👍
We live in Northern Wisconsin and any kind of heat pump will not work here. It sometimes gets to forty degrees below zero. We installed a ten gallon hot water heater that we turn on in the morning and turn off in the afternoon. You can't spend twenty minutes taking a shower but it's enough for a decent hot shower.
I love the concrete pad, but I LOVE seeing the handrail on the stairs!!! I afraid that something bad was gonna happen when you both moved things up the stairs. Love the videos. All the best, John Cooke
Got my weekly Riley & Courtney fix. Awesome stuff! Been running an on demand Rheem water heater 240VAC with no problems. I like the heat pump style water heater you have installed. Rock On!!
ANOTHER fantastic vlog, giving us an insight into 1. what it's like to be off-grid and 2. your joint ingenuity into solving issues, which to you are easy and logical and to me are impossible and must be linked to the dark arts!!
Hi Guys heard you mention that you were thinking of increasing your stored water capacity. A point on that is, to ensure that you ensure that you interconnect all the tanks and introduce New water at one end whilst taking g water from the opposite end thus ensuring that your stored water does not stagnate.
"Probably not the one you wanted to see in the shower", that was hilarious! 🤣🤣 Things are coming along great, nearly have all the comforts of home now!
All right now. Ya hooked me yesterday with the solar. Now today with the "hot water." I am a "You Tube" believer. (since 2016 from New Hampshire) . I am in awe of people like you who share their lives. Looks like you've built a solid "following." ~~~ Always respectful~~~ Always appreciating ~~~ (Wait! there is more!). What I really really appreciate is the (after instillation) follow up and ongoing narration. Very very cool. You have my attention. I am not worthy. Keep a perspective on your "famousness." Whew! Nice job guys!
btw our deaf Austrailian cattle dog peanut loves watching your video too. when she saw your dogs on the big screen she really got excited. Ill try to get a picture of her watching for you
@@sighheinrich I was patient and got good deals on everything. Spent 5 thousand building a system with 27 kw of battery. I can run my 220 welder and air compressor no problem.
If you duct the evaporator to the outside of the building you will pull a vacuum inside so its only beneficial if the temperature outside is higher than the temperature inside. You will also have to duct the condensor to the outside. Then you get a problem when its colder than 40f outside because the evaporator will start to condense water and freeze over. As such the ducting will probably only work during spring and autumn. You would be better off just making sure the shop never gets below 40f with a electric or propane space heater (not another heatpump because it will have the same issues). Then you can duct the cold side to the outside to create a small draft inside the shop which is good to have in a shop anyways.
Nice to see you using a hybrid electric water heater! I have gas at my house but I love the idea that one appliance acts as a water heater and dehumidifier/AC. It's a win/win.
Just thoughts. Put your cisterns on the back of your garage using earth berm (flywheel effect) to prevent freezing (maybe another shipping container?) Use solar water heater (ethylene glycol) to pre heat water before the water heater. I understand you live in a colder climate but maximizing your opportunities on every level during the building should pay off. You are doing a great job. If you can capture the water off the roof of the shop, it should be plenty. As smart as you are, you probably already thought of what I proposed. I am inspired by Mike Reynolds's concepts learned building Earth Ships. Water is life, this is the most important part of being of grid. You got to do what you can for you, just ideas.
I switched from a Solar/Thermosyphon (with Elec Backup) hot water System to a heat pump system about a year ago and haven't looked back, I set the onboard timer to run during the time that my solar panels are likely to get direct sunlight. I added a few extra solar panels to cover it and when the water is hot, the power is available for battery charging or other uses.
Just got my ambition strikes hat in the mail!!! Loving it! Drove up to the RV sporting that bad boy! Gonna put it through its paces during Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!!
Happy for you two. Next time when you are diging you should put onother pipe from house to batery house for comunication. 😉 Cheers to bolth of you. 🍷&🍺
It will be interesting to see how the heat pump aspect works in winter. If you're keeping the shop above ~40°, it will be fine, but if you drop much below that I think it will lose efficiency quickly.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Riley “I’m not the one you want to see in the shower” made me spit out my water 😂 that was good
I’m going in. Made me laugh. 😂
I laughed so hard at that!
I lol'd when he said that
Well done Riley, playing into it FTW! Lol
He is right.
Even if no one knows you,just by the way you treat your pets tells us how very cool you guys are!
small tip: put anything in your shop on wheels/rollers from the get go..... shelves, tables, benches, waterheater, compressor, etc
agree with that for sure after working in shops all my life.
Now that's a great idea. 😁
Hand truck?
Or if it is something you do not plan to move too often, make it so that it is easily movable by pallet jack.
So happy to see you guys with concrete!🙏🙏🙏Blessings
You guys need to put rain gutters on both end sides of your garage elbow it into a collection in The Collector water from your roof you got your morning dues that slowly drips down eventually it end up with a full container
When I watched your concrete pour I saw that they cut key ways in the slab for control joints. They did that when my house was built in Arizona. The one thing I wish I had done and would recommend you do is fill those key ways with a self leveling joint filler (still allows expansion) that they sell in the big box stores. You'll find sweeping up the shop floor way easier.
> Yeah the stuff comes in a calk gun tube and is very easy to use. It is used for sealing expansion joints in concrete paving and is very durable. Sitka.
I mentioned same thing last video. Easy to do before they move stuff in.
@@carlwest859 *Sika ?
@@franksinatra9250 Water test the grooves. The caulk doesn't settle like water and you don't want a little dam at one end. Ask me how I know.
I did that. Those tubes were like $10/$20 at Sherwin Williams. Cost me like $400 to seal all my seems! But sure was nice to clean!
Those IBC totes in the solar shed will be a MASSIVE thermal mass to keep things warm/cool in there!
Cover all your exposed hot water lines with that black pool noodle insulation, it makes a big difference in the winter. There is a pretty big heat loss in pipe runs through unheated spaces. That poly tube will still have a pretty big heat loss though nowhere nearly as large as copper or steel.
So true wrap both lines
Also in the winter not a bad idea to run water periodically or let it drip some to keep lines from freezing. You probably already have dealt this in the winter. I have been living in a travel trailer and everything freezes in the winter.
Great recommendation
With that large roof, you should also put in guttering on both sides of the roof and route the rainwater to a few IBC totes, for great rainwater collection, and then pipe that water to a pump and filtering configuration, and then to your water heater! We do rainwater collection, here in various parts of Hawaii! Mahalo!
Great work, though I am not a big fan of the pex crimps you used, I have seen them fail several times hot and cold expansion on the pex those crimps tend to cut into the pex, just something I have seen before and I have been in the hvac/plumbing biz for 30 years.. Also if you increase your hot water temp, that uses less hot water to mix with cold for a desired shower temp, using less hot water in the end, but also increases power consumption a little bit, when you install your rain catch system plumb the toilet to use that water instead of potable.. just my 2 cent opinion... 1 more thing about the bees, use fire smoke to drive them away if you dont want to kill them, otherwise youtube has several ways to kill them cheap and NO chemicals just water and dish soap, plenty of vids on that...
A friend has the heat pump water heater. It's sitting in the garage next to an interior wall. He ducted the cold air into the living space during the summer. Really helps. Diverts it in the winter.
There are few creature comforts, that I can think of, that compare with a hot shower in clean water under pressure. Knowing that the sun is providing the heat is even better. Well done, as always.
When you replace your missing wire nuts, I highly recommend Wago Lever Nuts. Holy cow I love those things.
Heads up, condensate lines freeze. So if you don't want to have a puddle molding you house insulate or use a copper line with a heated wrap.
Good point!
Great point, or put your condensate to a condensate pump. Then you will not have a slow trickle that tends to freeze. The quick rush of larger volume of water will warm the plastic enough to allow it to drain before freezing in your climate zone.
@@rsecord Yes! And, you slope the plastic line down so it self drains when the condensate pump stops.
Agreed, either drain the condensate into where the waste water form the house goes, or collect it in a bucket and recycle it. In winter that line through the wall will freeze, ask me how I know.
@@rsecord Does it even need to be a pump? A simple siphon, or a Pythagorean Cup, would let you to dump the condensate in batches, all without any moving parts
Good job on the info in the video. Finally found one that gave some details of off grid setup and how much power usage it takes. I'm looking at buying one of those water heaters for my radiant floor heat and hopefully set it up to a solar array (do not have the array yet). One cool smart device I have for our electrical system is a Sense power monitor. It shows you what is drawing power.
Congratulations guys, you've worked hard for this. Thanks for taking us along on the adventure.
Wow nice showerhead. I prefer the rain system from the ceiling.
Riley, Courtney, I watch two other highly rated off grid ‘homestead’ channels. One from Texas and one from West Virginia. Each of you have displayed extraordinary intelligence and strength in figuring out all aspects of creating a beautiful home. I am in awe! Thanks for great content! I always look forward to your channel!
Oh I think I know who yer following in West Virginia. Lol
I know the one in WV, who is the one in TX?
Wild and wonderful off grid
@@jackiejones8829 it’s called Life Uncontained, because they built an absolute dream home out of two shipping containers. Start to finish. It’s Mackenzie and Spencer and their lil girl and lil boy that they had while filming 4 years of working on their home.
Another good one is Martin Johnson - Off Grid Living . They're in Sandpoint Idaho so similar climate.
I've had that water heater installed for almost 2 years now. I installed a thermal mixing valve and during the warm months set the water temperature to 140 to kill listeria and ducted it into the kitchen for the 'free AC'. In the winter it just cools the basement and i turn the temp down to 120. Whatever you do, don't duct it outside, you will have to heat that space, it only works on ambient air down to about 40 degrees and exhausting it outside would create a negative draw and pull the even colder outside air in. In total it burns about 1.3kW/day just sitting at 120 even if you're not home and it's in heat pump mode. With a mixing valve set at 120 and the tank at 140, with incoming water at 68deg, I was able to get about 97gallons out of it before the water went cold.
You two are nailing the whole off grid while running a RUclips channel. I love the channel and watching your fearless approach to any challenge. You make it look so easy, and anyone that has done even a couple of your projects knows how much work it is. Great job, and keep amazing us.
AS, If you didn't know, Ryobi makes a dedicated battery-powered PEX clamp jaw. Push a button and the jaws clamp down on the stainless steel clamps. I loved using it.
I love both of you. You have motivate me to become a Pilot and a Flight instructor at my age of 64. I believe that if you can do this I can do my Dream. Thanks
water, potable water, can be super tricky - esp if you live where it hits -30C a lot. I hauled potable water home from the janitor closet at work for 7 years and absolutely hated it! I was spoiled by city water for 50 years.
That heat pump water heater is a cool trick.
I am now researching electric water heaters because we signed up for solar on our house. Now we are researching battery back up solutions too. I love learning new things through y’all and you have influenced a lot of decisions we have made on our home lately. Thank you for opening our eyes to new things!
Hey Brian, check into a standard water heater, change the elements to 12 volt get a harbor freight 100watt solar set and 2 golf cart 6volt batteries, if you super insulate the tank (10"to12")of the pink stuff, you will have more hot water than you can use
@@tomcharron6671 We don't know his water volume needs. Sounds like a good idea for those that use very little water.
We have a tankless water heater, but this is a great video:) showing another way to get hot water.
Heat pump is the way to go. They use a third to a fifth of power any other electric WH. Resistive elements suck way to much power.
it's not an "electric water heater" that he showed, it's a heat pump, which is electrically powered. big differences. i have a model in the same series as theirs, and unfortunately, mine's been very buggy
So now you have a HW htr that gives off cold air; and a refrigerator that gives off hot air. Now neither one gives off enough energy to replace the other but would take part of the load. Just a thought. You would probably need a water-cooled heat exchanger on both appliances.
Between Courtney’s sound effects when Riley was fitting the end to the poly water line and the shower scene I think you should have audience rated this video. My wife was snoozing beside me and thought I was up to no good. Great content as always, thanks for the entertainment. You guys are awesome.
You guys have such a great system set up. I wish we had this on Grandpas farm. We lived up Taylor creek west of Merlin Oregon on 80 acres. We had utilities(power) but this would have made it cheaper and easier to live. man the ideas I have now after watching your channel to bad we don't have the place anymore. I would love to send you a photo of my grandpa feeding by hand a doe from the local herd we named grandma and it shows the farm and the surrounding area. Keep up the great stuff love you guys and how is big yellow after the road building project.
I find it fascinating that folks that do what we do manage the project very different. First weekend after settling on the property I had a road cut and a septic tank installed with 3 inlets for RV dumps. Then the solar panels went up for RV, ATV and devices. Water we also hauled until October when our harvesting came on line after the shop was complete. Ours has been a super fun project, I see yours has also been a blast! Enjoy!
Don't forget some sort of screening on the outlet of your condensate drain to prevent bugs from moving in.
I buy a lot of tools, I upgrade all the time. I look at it as I am buying time, as I have more time to do what I enjoy if my chores take less time. I enjoy your content. thanks.
We really love ours. We got ours last Feb. We use about 2-3 kwh each day for a family of 4.
You guys are doing it right… so many other channels under engineer their solution and end up constantly chasing their energy needs wasting time over and over in a distraction of labor.
We installed one of these when our 20-year-old water heater died. Cut our electric bill quite a bit. We use about 2 kwh per day for the water heater. The problems most people who install them have is cold air output, space requirements (don't put it in a closet), and noise.
Hey you two!! Just wanted to quickly say thank you for sharing this...totally on the same page about relying on solar rather than propane. Every "plumbing expert" we've talked to has tried to steer us away from the Rheem and go either instant propane hot water or solar hot water. This really seems like the best all around option!
Heat pump is definitely the way to go!
I installed a Rheem heat pump hot water heater (same model) it cut my water heating cost by 80% from a conventional electric. My only complaint with it is the noise it makes (49 dba while it’s running). It’s programmable so you can change the schedule if it bugs you 😊😊. It has not had any issues during the year and half it’s been in operation
Riley: You are probably aware of this but Washington's truck scales are on, even when closed. I used to weigh our MH all the time just to keep the load balanced. (I collected rocks so it was constantly changing.)
You guys are doing wonderfully well. Keep it up.
Just remember that you should always have a metal stand-off pipe, copper, black iron etc. on the tanks inlet and outlets. I bet is even says it in the paperwork. It may not be code where you guys are but it is everywhere that I know of. Glad to see the concrete floors that’s awesome, and love the dozer looks fun.
Opening the pressure relief valve on the water heater is the easiest way to get the air out while filling.
You guys are such great problem solvers. It is really enjoyable and impressive to watch as you overcome every obstacle. Thanks for the video!
Just started watching your videos. In Dec 2022, I also purchased a Ruud 60 Gallon heat pump water heater and had it installed after my propane water heater of 19 years decided to have problems. In NYS, for people that are connected to the grid, my electric company NYSEG gave me a $700 rebate for using the heat pump water heater. I believe, the Rudd model is the best on the market. My water heater uses about 60 kwh per month. I also just got a 5k solar array on my roof so I can appreciate your system. If you use the water heater in heat pump mode, you'll be saving a ton of power. These heat pump water heaters have the heat pump mechanism on the top of the unit and the regular electrical heating element on the bottom. One thing to note is that the heat pump element as mentioned in the video, takes the warm air from the surrounding area on one side, then extracts the heat from the air and blows cold air on the other side. Another side effect is condensation, otherwise known as a dehumidifier. It would be great if the unit could accept the dehumidified water back into the tank.
That's the exact same heat pump hot water I put in two years ago. It's been great. I like I can see on the app how much electricity it's used. I average
Missed you on Sunday, but here you on late Monday, thanks...
Hey guys. So glad you two are ok. When you didn’t post yesterday I thought, what if something happened to one of you. Working off grid with heavy equipment anything is possible even with people who are extra careful. So I’m grateful to see you both are good and everyone has still got all their digits. 😉
They were in the shower 🤣👽
In Aus Rain collection is main source of water in Rural areas ,
I would have thought you would have put gutters and downpipes on the shed and the water off the roof would have kept you in fresh water all the time.
FYI the clear ISO tanks allow water to grow Algea as the light shines in and promotes photosynthesis. you can add some Milton water treatment tablets to help prevent that from happening.
12 volt RV pumps with pressure switches are ideal for your application also.
I know you are not a "how to" channel, but I am in awe of the way you two solve problems together and always find the best, most practical solutions to all the problems you encounter!
You are an inspiration!
I have the same heat pump at my house and it works great. The only down side I have had with it is the time it takes in ECO mode to generate hot water if someone has used all the hot water for a shower. We have adjusted the times we shower and it really has not been a problem. My local power company had a $1,000 rebate for purchasing it so it was very cost effective to buy and very efficient to operate. Anyone looking to do a change like this contact your power company and look for rebates before purchasing and installing. I went from using fuel oil for my oil burner to this unit and no longer use fuel oil at all as I have switched all my heat and air conditioning over to heat pumps which work great and I live in New York where it gets cold.
Spending time in a well thought out plan ahead with the oppurtunities you have, makes a big difference in all your descions. In the first run it looks very expensive, but in the long run it´s rewarding and sometimes giving you more back then you payed for. You two are a very smart couple.
Wow, what a beautiful relationship. Great set up but you guys go well together.
My water heater is at least 13 years old and it's time to replace. I didn't even know about these, and living in Florida, after doing research on these now (thank you!), I'm SOOO getting one of these to help cool my house AND be a lot more energy efficient. Thank you!
We have a tankless and was looking into this option, we off grid with kids so I wonder if it would work for our family.
cool new water heater. I noticed now that the concrete is in, the dog door in the back is a little low for your size dogs. should think about raising so the top is height of their backs. they will thank you when they get older. love your videos.
Wow - another innovative solution. We had never heard of a heat-pump water heater, but are familiar with the technology. (We installed a mini-split HVAC system in our house last year to handle heating and cooling - works great.)
We always look forward to your next video. Keep up the good work!
Nice content! FYI, the pros call them “water heaters” and the rookies call them “hot water heaters!”
I’m an extrovert and can not imagine only having my wife to talk with most days! Neat use of technology!
You Guys are getting there. Awesome to see the off grid,
Id unhook the water heater element as its not needed in your install. Also venting that out side is not going to work during the winter time.
Congratulations you two on getting the hot water heater installed. It was clever playing 'telephone' with the pipe to figure out which pipe was which. I never would have thought of that. Glad things are improving for you two. Thanks again for the video update.
Me and my old father made a permanent outdoor shower building that sets on its own with an opened door with a shower curtain With water catchment filtering and a propane water heater setup like you have .Also doing filtered water catchment for plants and fish because there’s to much chlorine in the water some times. Very cool video May God Bless You Both And Everyone You Know In The Name of Jesus Christ.Amen. A big Dew / Fog catchment would give you day to day drinking water no filter needed.
I've been following y'all since you built the overland camper. I believe you two can do anything you want to.
Just came across your channel and I have been binge watching all day. Love you guys
Perfect husband and wife project. Thank you for sharing
Nice job setting up our Rheem water heater!
Just found this channel today and binged the last 15-20 videos. Brilliant stuff. Keep it up!
Try putting 18 inches of 3/4" copper pipe between the water heater and any pex connections. It will he save future problems.
Good job guys! I didn't even know that type of water heater even existed! No brainer install, love your work! Thanks for the video!!!
YAA HOO! I know what it's like to be where you're at now, getting hot water. Good job!
We got a similar hot water heater last year. We love it and it is great! We got a lemon in the beginning, the refrigerant leaked out but the mfgr replaced it for free under warranty. AOSmith is great, but Reehm is a great product too. Like you we got the one on the shelf. ... Congrats on all you do.
Yes! I thought the old system was perfect for an application I had, so was happy when you said you’d post the system description and layout.
nice to see you guys getting things moved along. One thing, every time you put a 90 in a pex (or any other) line, you cut the water pressure. Its better to just keep a gently curved loop of pex in most circumstances.
Man it drives me nuts to see all the RUclipsrs putting 90’s every few inches. They waste time money and volume.
@@Z71hosestretcher you would be surprised how many professionals do it to. All of my plumber uncles are dead or retired but even back in the all copper days, they used get for example a new customer who complained about water pressure and they found that the previous plumber who did the house did things like adding 90s to make it "look good" and so on.
I have been using that water heater for 7 years. I received 100% rebate from power company. The control panel has went out three times, and in the winter a trouble light goes on indicating condensate line not working, but it is working. Also one heat element went out. I called the company on all issues and they sent out FREE new parts. I installed the parts. Overall i love the water heater because of the built in heat pump and the good support for problems.
Awesomeness you two. That water heater is amazing. Those numbers will work well with the solar/battery system.
Keep up the adventure. It is a joy to watch you! 👍
We live in Northern Wisconsin and any kind of heat pump will not work here. It sometimes gets to forty degrees below zero. We installed a ten gallon hot water heater that we turn on in the morning and turn off in the afternoon. You can't spend twenty minutes taking a shower but it's enough for a decent hot shower.
I love the concrete pad, but I LOVE seeing the handrail on the stairs!!! I afraid that something bad was gonna happen when you both moved things up the stairs. Love the videos. All the best, John Cooke
I have one of these and it’s awesome! I, too, am 95% solar 😊
Got my weekly Riley & Courtney fix. Awesome stuff! Been running an on demand Rheem water heater 240VAC with no problems. I like the heat pump style water heater you have installed. Rock On!!
With our recent drought we learned to Buck bath. For almost a year we had about 5 gallons of water per person per day.
Buck bath should have been bucket bath. Hotels had to set showers for a 2 minute shower.
ANOTHER fantastic vlog, giving us an insight into 1. what it's like to be off-grid and 2. your joint ingenuity into solving issues, which to you are easy and logical and to me are impossible and must be linked to the dark arts!!
Hi Guys heard you mention that you were thinking of increasing your stored water capacity. A point on that is, to ensure that you ensure that you interconnect all the tanks and introduce New water at one end whilst taking g water from the opposite end thus ensuring that your stored water does not stagnate.
"Probably not the one you wanted to see in the shower", that was hilarious! 🤣🤣 Things are coming along great, nearly have all the comforts of home now!
All right now. Ya hooked me yesterday with the solar. Now today with the "hot water." I am a "You Tube" believer. (since 2016 from New Hampshire) . I am in awe of people like you who share their lives. Looks like you've built a solid "following." ~~~ Always respectful~~~ Always appreciating ~~~ (Wait! there is more!). What I really really appreciate is the (after instillation) follow up and ongoing narration. Very very cool. You have my attention. I am not worthy. Keep a perspective on your "famousness." Whew! Nice job guys!
Very cool system! with all the water seeps on your mountain think about developing a spring box. im glad you guys are well.
btw our deaf Austrailian cattle dog peanut loves watching your video too. when she saw your dogs on the big screen she really got excited. Ill try to get a picture of her watching for you
You two have done such a great job since you got your block of land well done!
It must be so peaceful there of a night ect 👌🏻
Congrats Guy's on building ur Solar Power water heater. looks great.. lv the views..
As I sit here in Florida with no power , the Casey Way is sounding better every day !
I love this channel and this great couple. ❤
We hope your power is restored soon!
one thing on your water heater need plum the presser valve to a drain or outside It's valve have handle and tag 120 or 150 PSI
That solar panel setup is massive. You could teach a lot to people who want to go solar.
Wild Wonderful Off-Grid has far more information about going solar.
My neighbor has 93 panels on his roof.
Most people don't have the money to buy such a system. It's expensive!
@@sighheinrich I was patient and got good deals on everything. Spent 5 thousand building a system with 27 kw of battery. I can run my 220 welder and air compressor no problem.
@@sighheinrich Actually, by shopping carefully, solar panels can cost much less. Avoid the hyped up upsellers.
If you duct the evaporator to the outside of the building you will pull a vacuum inside so its only beneficial if the temperature outside is higher than the temperature inside. You will also have to duct the condensor to the outside. Then you get a problem when its colder than 40f outside because the evaporator will start to condense water and freeze over. As such the ducting will probably only work during spring and autumn. You would be better off just making sure the shop never gets below 40f with a electric or propane space heater (not another heatpump because it will have the same issues). Then you can duct the cold side to the outside to create a small draft inside the shop which is good to have in a shop anyways.
Nice to see you using a hybrid electric water heater! I have gas at my house but I love the idea that one appliance acts as a water heater and dehumidifier/AC. It's a win/win.
looking at everything youguys have accomplished so far is totally amazing!
Need to get a tank for your army truck! That would be better and you could also use it for watering roads and for fire protection as well.
What an amazing check mark on the list, you two!! Congratulations! This story has been amazing so far!! God Bless
amazing setup guys! i just learned about he jean pain method. free compost HEAT! game changer for off gridders. love your channel!!
Love the videos I enjoy watching them everytime they come out. I’m glad to have found this channel. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Thanks for watching!
you should run your condensation water through a rv water filter into a bowl for the pups to drink
Just thoughts. Put your cisterns on the back of your garage using earth berm (flywheel effect) to prevent freezing (maybe another shipping container?) Use solar water heater (ethylene glycol) to pre heat water before the water heater. I understand you live in a colder climate but maximizing your opportunities on every level during the building should pay off. You are doing a great job. If you can capture the water off the roof of the shop, it should be plenty. As smart as you are, you probably already thought of what I proposed. I am inspired by Mike Reynolds's concepts learned building Earth Ships. Water is life, this is the most important part of being of grid. You got to do what you can for you, just ideas.
Solar hot water is very efficient and a great idea. Even at very low outdoor temps
I switched from a Solar/Thermosyphon (with Elec Backup) hot water System to a heat pump system about a year ago and haven't looked back, I set the onboard timer to run during the time that my solar panels are likely to get direct sunlight. I added a few extra solar panels to cover it and when the water is hot, the power is available for battery charging or other uses.
Worth the wait and bonus feature of awesome backing up skills!
Just got my ambition strikes hat in the mail!!! Loving it! Drove up to the RV sporting that bad boy! Gonna put it through its paces during Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!!
Great information on the water heater. I need a new one and will check that one (or similar) one out. Thanks
Happy for you two. Next time when you are diging you should put onother pipe from house to batery house for comunication. 😉
Cheers to bolth of you. 🍷&🍺
It will be interesting to see how the heat pump aspect works in winter. If you're keeping the shop above ~40°, it will be fine, but if you drop much below that I think it will lose efficiency quickly.
I hauled produce and meats across this country for 30 some years, Girlfriend you backed that trailer up like a professional
I Love it.❤